Eagles Have A Lot Of Work To Do In Seven Days

Draft picks are being signed in the National Football League at a pace slower than a snail in winter, andPatrick Forte thinks he knows why. Agents and the NFL Players Association.

And, having been a former agent and knowledgeable in both the agents' fraternity and the NFLPA, he may be right.

"Most people (agents) are just waiting," said Forte, who so impressed the Philadelphia Eagles with the way he handled negotiations for defensive end Reggie White last year that the Eagles later hired him as assistant to Vice President-General Manager Harry Gamble. "Everybody's afraid of wrath from his fellow agents or the NFLPA.

"The NFLPA has encouraged agents to wait until the last minute because usually, they feel, teams have a history of caving in near the beginning of training camp just to get the contracts done. That's not going to be the case here."

Whatever the Eagles' case may be, it had better be immediately effective. They open training camp at West Chester University one week from today, and a disaster like last year is a sickening possibility.

Marion Campbell struggled through most of last summer without 11 veterans and No. 1 draft pick Kevin Allen and eventually lost his job.

Now Buddy Ryan, his successor, faces his first camp as a head coach without eight veteran free agents, including quarterback Ron Jaworski, tight end John Spagnola and defensive tackle Kenny Clarke, and 13 draft choices. All are unsigned and may not attend camp or use NFL facilities until they are signed.

"We'd like to have them all in camp," Gamble said, "but it's hard to predict how many will be signed in time. Patrick is talking with the agents every day.

"Only 35 draft choices have been signed around the league, so you can see progress has been minimal. I would like to believe as we get closer to camp the tempo will speed up, not only for the Eagles but for everyone else."

"We haven't been dragging our feet," Forte said in answer to a question concerning the lack of offers to Keith Byars, Anthony Toney and Alonzo Johnson, the first three draft picks.

"Byars agent (Richard Bennett) called up several weeks ago and said he wanted to wait and see what (No. 1 pick) Bo Jackson got. Jackson chose baseball, so he (Bennett) changed his mind and asked us to submit a proposal.

"Toney's agent has promised to meet with me in Philadelphia for the last six weeks and just got in last night. Johnson's agent (David Ware) sent in a proposal 10 days ago and went on vacation the next day. He just got back yesterday (Tuesday)."

Forte said the Eagles have offers on the table, "but most people want to wait. They're waiting to see who else signs in a particular round because nobody wants to be first and found to have taken a low offer.

"I've asked for offers and the agent says, 'No, I'll wait and see what happens.' I can't force an agent's hand."

The Eagles have instituted a Pro Bowl package where, if a player plays in that game at the end of the season, he receives a substantial salary increase the following year. It can, as Gamble pointed out, double and sometimes triple a base salary.

This package is being included in all new contracts and has been proposed to Jaworski's agent, John Langel, and Jimmy Solano, the agent for Spagnola and Clarke. Forte said Solano has been receptive to the plan, "depending upon what the base is."

A four-year deal that includes the Pro Bowl package was put together by Gamble and Forte for Jaworski, but a return letter from Langel "indicates that it was not accepted," Gamble said. "There was no counter offer, but we're still talking."

There has been talk that the Eagles aren't really concerned whether Jaworski signs because they now have an experienced quarterback in Matt Cavanaugh. Gamble said it's not true.

"Yes, we want to sign Jaworski," he said emphatically. "We want him in camp and on our football team."

Has he considered possible trades if Jaworski, Spagnola, Clarke and the other free agents don't come to terms? "I'd like to not think about trading players," he said. "That ways premature. I would like to sign them and will make an effort to do it before camp opens. We want and need them in training camp."

He'd like to sign Byars, too, and had Forte go to Ohio last Monday with an offer, "to lay the groundwork and, more or less, begin the process." Byars reportedly returned to Columbus in anger a month ago after the Eagles asked him to give up his single room and double up with Johnson.

"The issue of the hotel room was not one of dollars and cents," Gamble said. "We have a policy where we double our players up, whether in camp, here on a voluntary basis or on the road."

What if he's a 'franchise' player, as Byars has been called? "If he's a No. 1 draft pick he'll be compensated," Gamble said, "but as far as handling players, we try to do it all the same. We try to be consistent."

The Eagles drafted Byars in the first round despite a broken right foot that scared other teams off. He will be examined again today in Georgia and conceivably may play earlier than Oct. 1, the day originally forecast.

Gamble said negotiations with Byars will treat him as "a healthy football player. There may be some stipulations that would require him being able to play, but we haven't refined that. Our approach is that he's healthy."

Healthy . . . and one of many unsigned. Gamble and Forte have a lot of work to do in the next seven days.